Doing a small report on Shakespeare, and I'm writing about the religion in his time period. I think adding what Protestantism is would help. Was it different back then than it is now?
Even now it is different in every Protestant church you go to. That's the nature of Protestantism. Fragmentation and doctrinal chaos, the result of having no authoritative source of truth to draw from.
Protestantism is the general name given to all Christians who protested against the Catholic Church's teachings, from Martin Luther on. Hence, Protesters became known as protestants, for evermore.
For deeper info, Google it.
Christianity is usually labeled as having 3 main branches. Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxy. Protestantism is us ally referred to those churches that split from Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. It also comes from the word "Protest" because that's what they did was protest against Catholicisms teachings.
way back in the day, the catholic church was going a little drunk with power. a lot of the doctrine were made to fit the priest's agenda. one example is that the church was selling certificates for heaven. Martin Luther, a monk at the time, nailed a list of a whole bunch complaints of what the catholic church was doing wrong. with this he sparked the protestant movement.
if you want specifics rent the movie Martin Luther. it's a very good movie and will give you just about all of the info you'd need.
What is Protestantism [specific please]?
